


Nightmares

by pedalprince



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Galaxy Garrison, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Keith/Lance - Freeform, Lance (Voltron) Angst, M/M, POV Keith (Voltron), Pre-Slash, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Subtle shippyness APPRECIATE THEM JUST BEING TOGETHER TM, Voltron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 16:49:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16622702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pedalprince/pseuds/pedalprince
Summary: Keith doesn't sleep too well one night, and finds himself wandering. What's real, and what isn't?





	Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gin_flowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gin_flowers/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Paper Airplane](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12850308) by [gin_flowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gin_flowers/pseuds/gin_flowers). 



> Highkey wrote in elentori-art on tumblr's comic ABOUT gin_flowers' fic Paper Airplane (this is way too layered oh my goodness) into this fic because I was stuck on how to proceed (I had written a good chunk of it before at some point not including the beginning, and left it alone because I didn't know what to do with it) but this flowed out after I saw that comic because I was so emotional,,,, I kind of just expanded on what I saw art-wise from elentori-art because I didn't want to leave it at that in my head (not having read the tags like an idiot THERE WAS ALREADY A FIC HAHA good) but I may just continue this if I decide I'm not satisfied with leaving it as a short ramble piece and take it in another direction for fun. Gifting this to gin_flowers who was the hapless victim of me finding a sad comic at 3 AM. Let me know?

The USB clicked in, and the podium began to glow with energy. Soft and blue, the sandy shores of a beach wrapped around Keith instantly. His eyes were sunken in, and he couldn’t bring himself to even swallow without extra effort.

Suddenly, _“Hey.”_

It danced in Keith’s ears with the split second of a reality that no longer was. He choked back a reaction and looked up.

Lance smiled down at him gently, his hair a little longer than usual. Skin dotted with the faintest of freckles, and an expression that reminded Keith of the sun. Down to every detail, this computer generated image was just like him.

One word slipped through Keith’s mind like an ugly, cold drop from a closed showerhead. Uninvited, but unsurprising, and uncomfortable in that visceral way.

_Gone._

He went down into a crouch position, head down, unsure of how else to exist in this little illusion. The taste in his mouth was bitter and sour, and though he never was much for crying, Keith found himself trying so hard not to yell out in anger - smile somehow. _Do anything._

It wasn’t as though Keith Kogane had never experienced loss. His dad, his mom for most of his life, Shiro over and over again, his place at the Garrison… it was as if everything was marred by loss. Nothing… no, nothing could be worse than that.

The cruelty of it all was that the two of them had finally reached a mutual understanding - a feeling that they together could take on anything. Voltron gave them that strength.

But just as quickly as it began, Keith turned and saw his right hand paladin get shot through the heart.

_In a split second of inattention..._

At first no one could believe it. They put him in the cryopod even when they couldn’t hear him breathe anymore. There was desperate yelling, the sound of running, and a heavy weight that wasn’t that of carrying Lance’s body home. It was somewhere deep in the center of the chest, which since then hadn’t moved from its place.

“You got this.” Lance murmured, dropping down. He gingerly laid his hand on Keith’s hair with a sad, warm gaze.

“Keith. Thank you.”

-

Keith woke up in a cold sweat.

It was always a weird feeling to wake up so suddenly from a dream. His weary eyes blinked and were instantly exposed to the murk of darkness. Shifting over slightly, he reached for the light panel and managed to get the lights on, slipping out of bed.

It was the time of day when no one else was awake, and he found himself slinking down the hallway of the Garrison building with the emergency lights in the rooms as his guide. Keith Kogane had not been asked to return to training like the others, but was allowed back into the Garrison on the grounds that he was a Voltron paladin and had served in active duty to protect the Earth. He initially declined and wandered space with his mother, Krolia, for a year or two before returning.

Though Keith felt little attachment to Earth, long having lost his father (and therefore his last remaining tie to the shack in Texas), his care for the paladins ran deep. He no longer felt right spending his days permanently far away from them. In other words, though he would never admit it out loud, his home was where _they_ were.

It was never, not once, a house.

Just a little further down was Shiro’s room, and a few more hallways down were Lance, Pidge, and Hunk, who chose rooms close together as they had been the first to return to base. Keith felt this distance was minor, and he usually enjoyed his alone time. It was nights like this when he felt himself a bit cold and weary that he found himself wandering, as if he would eventually run into something.

Suddenly, the door to Lance’s room opened with a _whoosh_ , causing Keith to step back in alarm. Lance wasn’t wearing a face mask or listening to music like usual - he was just stepping out in a loose t-shirt, looking more exhausted than anything else. He stared for a few seconds before realizing that Keith was there, pale as a sheet. It was as if he had seen a spirit appear in front of him.

Lance, not knowing what to do, probably did something very, very stupid.

“What, never seen a ghost, Keithster?”

In the next second, Keith had impulsively knocked the glass of water from Lance’s hand in a wave of upset emotions, his eyes locked on the ground. He was significantly closer now, and Lance gulped in fear at the intensity of his aura. He began to sweep lightly at the glass shards on the ground with his hand, unsure what to do next. Keith couldn’t even bring himself to explain. He only uttered a soft, blunt “sorry” before he suddenly rushed back down the hallway. Lance took a second to look at the broken cup on the floor in concern before hurrying after him.

“Keith! Wait! What did I say? _Can you ask someone for a dustpan?!”_

Keith rolled his eyes and continued down the hallway, for some reason unable to face the person coming up on his heels. The feeling of heaviness and sadness from the dream had not yet left him entirely, and he seemed to be searching for an escape. He was foiled by the last room on that end of the building: the student common area, with its long tables and eerie electric light from the line of vending machines. Keith slowed down and slid into a seat, his head in his hands and his hair messy as if he had been attacked in his sleep.

Lance realized that it just might have been his fault, frowning and slipping quietly into the seat across from Keith. He wrung his hands, poking at a cut from the glass and wincing when a drop of blood appeared.

Keith looked up after a moment and noticed the cut. Guilt washed over him in return. He paused rather comedically before he reached out with caution, offering a band aid from his pocket. Lance smiled and accepted it, the sound of ripping adhesive paper somewhat comforting after all that had happened just seconds before.

“Sorry for scarin’ ya.” Lance said after a minute, wrapping the band aid around his finger with an air of calm amusement. His voice lilted in the way it often did, bouncing when he was in the mood.

In response, Keith was about to snap at him over the seriousness of the situation. He realized with a jolt that Lance had no idea about his dreams. Keith’s mouth drew into a thin line of discomfort, and the heavy feeling returned.

“Yeah.”

Lance gazed at him with suspicion. “Keith...are you okay?”

The Lance in front of him was still very much alive. The Galran Empire war was over, and peace had mostly returned. Keith was struggling to figure out how the dream made any sense. His expression grew more conflicted and weary as the clock ticked along. Lance realized that he wouldn’t get a solid answer and stood, paying for something at the vending machine.

He returned and placed the soda can before the red paladin with caution, as if hoping it would make him look up. After fiddling with the top of the can for several minutes with no response, Lance’s sudden voice seemed sure and kind.

“I don’t know what’s going on, and you don’t have to say anything. But we’re in this together, and...I’m here if you need me.”

The fizzle of the soda can filled the room, soft and light.

Keith’s messed up hair hid a single tear that appeared in the corner of his eye, and an ever so slight smile of relief.

“Yeah.”

At that, Lance seemed somewhat satisfied, and stood once again. “If you’re feeling a little better, what do you say to a walk under the stars?”

He held out his hand, and Keith took it without a word, being hauled up to his feet. They walked close together on their way out, chattering over the fizz of their soda drinks, and a song playing that Lance pulled up on his phone in a cheesy attempt to cheer Keith up.

The heavy feeling went light and then disappeared, in time with the steps out the door to the summer night.


End file.
